Funchalese portuguese also has subject doubling: reflections on the relation between the null subject parameter and subject doubling

Abstract

This paper aims to present an analysis of subject doubling constructions in the variety of Portuguese spoken in Funchal, the capital of Madeira Island. For that, we worked with a Corpus of 18 informants, extracted from the COMPARAPORT Project. The theoretical-methodological approach that underlies the research is based on the association between the Principles and Parameters Theory (cf. CHOMSKY, 1981; 1995) and the methodological device of the Theory of Variation and Change (cf. WEINREICH, LABOV & HERZOG, 2006 [1968]). Based on Duarte (1995) and Rezende dos Reis (2023), the guiding hypothesis is that there is, in the Funchalese Portuguese, a relation between the filling of pronominal subjects and the implementation of structures with subject doubling; we understand that the marking of the Null Subject Parameter (cf. CHOMSKY, 1981), in this variety, operates as a filter for this relation, primarily linked to the “qualitative” licensing of the data. For statistical treatment, the software MINITAB version 21.1 was used. The results obtained reveal that the production of subject doubling is more frequent strategy in individuals with higher rates of subject filling, thus confirming the aforementioned hypothesis.